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-   -   Skoda India plans nation-wide dealer revamp (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/161797-skoda-india-plans-nation-wide-dealer-revamp.html)

Skoda India has been working towards improving its market share. The VW subsidiary is reportedly planning a nation-wide showroom revamp, in order to create a dealer standard. The dealer standard is a practice, largely employed by luxury car makers, that stands to improve a brand's appeal. The revamp will essentially mean that irrespective of the dealer's location, the ambience will remain the same and impart a sense of uniformity. The plan was revealed at the recent launch of the Skoda Zeal edition vehicles.

The Octavia, Yeti and Superb Zeal editions get black Alcantara leather seats, a black dashboard and black door trims, while the Rapid Zeal edition will feature leatherette and Alcantara seats, a navigation device with a rear view camera, parktronics (rear), an observation mirror and floor textile mats.

Currently, Skoda's most affordable and best-selling model is the Rapid sedan, which contributes to around 75% of the brand's sales. Skoda didn't plan on bringing the new Fabia hatchback to India, but a recent change of heart could see the car making a comeback, given the segment's immense potential.

Monthly factory dispatches of the Octavia and Superb remain in the early triple digits, while a Yeti consignment consists of barely 30 units. Considering how the Rapid's monthly movement exceeds the other three combined, the Fabia's return probably isn't a question of "if", but "when".

Source: ET Auto

This is called treating the leg when the problem is with the head! Skoda cars are desirable, at least in India, as the perception of the brand is of a premium one (though debatable) but it is the service standard that needs to be improved and the spares be priced reasonably. A lot more people would put their money on Skoda cars if they feel confident about the service standards and the cost of spares be in line with their cars. So, localization of production and improvement in service standard and network should be the key. The effort and money will go down the drain by this 'dealer-revamp' idea.

More than a dealer standard and revamp, they need a service centre mindset revamp and a service standard. Cheaper spares for Rapid atleast would help.

When it is about earning back the lost reputation, correcting mistakes wouldn't be enough, but would also need to go the extra mile. The dealer revamp could be part of that. It is human nature to criticize at the smallest fault and appreciate only when substantial improvement is shown. Hence merely improving service might go unnoticed without fetching them much or any benefit by it getting overshadowed by the bad reputation. Skoda could very well get back the reputation by taking care of their customers. Dealer revamp is not a bad idea from that view point. It is a move in the right direction IMO, if they are taking care of service front side by side.

Agree with posts of fellow members .

A revamp in company and dealer attitude is the need of the hour for skoda.
It has gone in the wrong direction with regard to its product line up, totally ignoring the hatch segment, which generates huge volumes for other manufacturers. It is sensing belatedly , the missed opportunity and trying to bring in the fabia.

Dealer revamp, if limited to look alike showrooms , will be the wrong medicine for what is ailing the company. The company needs to have its image re built from scratch. The journey from being premium and unaffordable brand when it comes to service and spares to becoming affordable is not easy, especially without a fall in standards and quality.

However the company seems to be aware that it is shrinking in terms of sales and market share, and will perhaps try all the tricks in the books to arrest the decline. Otherwise it is endgame for skoda .

Before the publicised dealer revamp, there should have been a mammoth workshop revamp exercise because thats where the problem lies. Buying Skoda cars was never an issue, it was after sales which had lots of horror stories associated. How many new workshops did Skoda open up in the past couple of years or so in Mumbai metro? Cant remember any new openings at all.

At dealership level, Skoda does need to make some changes too but more of cosmetic I believe. The JMD auto dealer at Thane is a classic example where the test drive cars were not available when I had accompanied my friend who was interested to check out the Skoda Rapid. When asked for Diesel variant, they had offered petrol one promising to call once diesel car was available for TD. That call never happened. My friend opted for Verna instead.

Hey

A dealer revamp, would also mean a change in workshop ethics, if am not mistaken !!!
Better late than never, a welcome move. However along with this change, more important is for them to ensure and instill the concept of "Customer first" amongst the dealers. Have in my few interactions with VW SA's advised what the customer looks for and someone felt they had no clue of what I was talking about. So, back to the drawing board SKODA.. Get the dealers tuned towards Customer requirements and some soft touch on customer sentiments. A small step in educating would go a long way in raising your graphs!!!

Clearly shows that the new MD has not learnt much, contrary to what many Skoda owners have posted in the other thread and has his own set of priorities that do not match with what customer wants.

Soon we will see his exit too from the company unless his schemes bring in the numbers.

Or perhaps the priorities of the customer is indeed messed up ...

For all that's been said against Skoda, I've never heard an actual or potential customer mention 'inconsistent dealership experience' as his reason to drop Skoda from consideration. Add to that nobody's ever complained about their products themselves (which are competent), shouldn't they be looking at 'improving' dealership and service experience, because consistent is something they already are? Consistently lousy, that is.

They take years to wake up to 'something' being wrong, then throw all effort and money on a cosmetic upgrade? Well, it's their money.:Frustrati

It is funny that Skoda claims this is 'revamp of showroom looks' is based on customer feedback. I wonder which customer told - ok my car service is bad. let me suggest a new look for the showroom. They should focus on product and possibly 'revamp in service' department.

Showroom revamp = Additional investments.

I'd like to see just how well this goes down with dealers. At a total of 1200 cars a month across 76 dealers, that's a measly 16 cars a month for each dealer. In comparison, the average Hyundai / Maruti / Mahindra dealership does 91 / 74 / 72 cars (respectively)! When your dealers are selling a car only every alternate day, I'm curious to know how Skoda will handle the proposal. Of course, Skoda could foot the renovation bill. Or this could be a good way to trim the dealer network (invest or perish).

Related Thread

According to me, while this will be nice, it may not be required at the moment. The first thing which should be sorted out is availability of parts. Since parts, if not available with the dealer have to be ordered from Aurangabad, and that delays the whole process since it takes at least 7 days for the parts to arrive. This leads to more vehicles taking up workshop space. Possibly having regional warehouses will improve the situation, and even making the dealers keep a larger stock of non routinely changed parts.

Having similar looking and sized showrooms is hardly the need or the u-turn that Skoda needs , fine lets have standardization across the country but here is the bigger next challenge that renders the standardization meaningless to a degree :-

Human Capital / Sales force : Create a swanky showroom and put inept, un-knowledgeable people with an intent to cheat and does not matter how good the coffee might have been , the experience will be bad and will scare people

Add to it what so many other members have already said - give us a better service setup , that is more important than a swanky showroom. It costs 5X more to try and acquire a new customer on an average than retain one - retention for Skoda will be driven from service and after sales not initial visits to an aesthetically pleasing showroom.

Oh, well. I wanted to TD a swift petrol and was unsuccessful in finding one at any Maruti dealership in *ALL* of Bombay. They either offered a diesel swift or Petrol DZire. Quite obviously, I didnt opt for the company or model. But shamelessly, the dealers where I expressed interest called me offering me "great" deals on the model.

But of course, I agree with overall sentiment that:
1) Skoda needs to expand their dealership network and that of workshops,
2) Cost of spares needs to come down,
3) Car reliability issues reported by many owners (eg, DSG, fuel pump issues) should be attended to on priority basis

Skoda could sell their cars with a standard warranty of 4 yrs. This would be an excellent initiative for customers sitting on the fence.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/53522041.cms

Skoda looks as if it's serious about the Indian operations after all. The above report says that they plan initiatives to revamp dealer network and service quality.
It also says they are focusing only on the higher end of the market aiming for half of the Rs.10 lac to 40 lac bracket. No volumes game for them. Sounds ambitious - and with the current line up and envisaged new launches, a bridge too far.:)
Without a compact SUV (in the 10 to 20 lac range) in their line up (which I think is among the hottest segments here) it looks tough going to achieve these targets.